Delivery mechanism for rotary printing press



Dec. 30, 1969 R. L. FUSCO 3,487,447

DELIVERY MECHANISM FOR ROTARY PRINTING PRESS Filed May 5, 1968 2Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR.

flzP/V Zf'asra Dec. 30, 1969 L, Fusco 3,487,447

DELIVERY MECHANISM FOR ROTARY PRINTING PRESS Filed May 5, 1968 2Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR.

f/llfifi z Fusra United States Patent O 3,487,447 DELIVERY MECHANISM FORROTARY PRINTING PRESS Ralph L. Fusco, Commack, N.Y., assignor, by mesneassignments, to James Talcott, Inc., New York, N.Y., a corporation ofNew York Filed May 3, 1968, Ser. No. 726,481 Int. Cl. B65h 29/58, 29/06US. Cl. 271-64 4 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE pockets onto one oftwo conveyor receiving means so that the folded signatures are deliveredalternately to the two conveyors so as to effect an alternate feed.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates generally to printingmachinery and more particularly to the delivery system of a rotaryprinting press.

It is a general object of the invention to provide a means wherebycopies of folded printed products can be alternately delivered from afolding unit of the printing press to at least two separate receivingmeans.

In the typical delivery system the printed products are delivered from afolding mechanism into pockets or fiys of a rotating fan, and then eachproduct is conveyed partly around the fan at fan speed until its leadingedge engages a stationary stop member or stripper which interrupts thetravel of the folded product around the fan and strips the product fromthe fan pockets and deposits them in overlapping relation onto a singletraveling conveyor to be carried to a counting or wrapping station.

In the modern high speed printing press it is sometimes desirable tosplit the delivery into two or more streams so as to prevent clogging inthe delivery stream and so as to facilitate the stacking and handling ofthe delivered copies. Previous devices for splitting the delivery, suchas shown in Quick et al. Patent No. 2,121,327 and Turrall et al. PatentNo. 2,563,492 have required major alterations in the delivery portion ofthe machine, have involved the use of substantially more equipment andhave generally been found to be costly and complicated.

It is accordingly a more specific object of the present invention toprovide a device for splitting the delivery of folded signatures as theyare delivered by a folder unit which is simple in design, relativelyinexpensive and which requires no major alterations in the existingportion of the delivery system. This is accomplished by replacing thefan, as presently used, with a fan of unique design having a multilevelconstruction so as to carry the signatures at different levels, and byproviding separate stripper means so that the copies in the differentlevels are stripped off or pushed out of the pockets at different timesby its respective stripper onto separate receiving means.

Other objects, advantages and features of the present invention willbecome more apparent from the following detailed description inconnection with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS In the drawings:

3,487,447 Patented Dec. 30, 1969 DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODI-MENT OF THE INVENTION As shown in the drawings the apparatus accordingto one embodiment of the invention incorporates a plurality of deliveryfans 11 having a hub 13 secured to a shaft 15 by key 17. The shaft isrotatably journaled in the side frames 10, 12 of the machine. The fansrotate on the shaft at a speed proportional to and less than the speedof the press so that as the folded products P are folded off the foldingcylinder 31 by rollers 27, 29 they are deposited into one of the pocketson the periphery of the fans.

The embodiment of the invention as shown and described hereinincorporates two levels of pockets. The pockets 21 on the first levelare formed by extended fingers 19 and the pockets 25 on the second levelare formed by fingers 23. The pockets of each level are alternatelyspaced about the periphery of the fan so that as the fan rotates thepapers are alternately deposited between first and second level pockets.The folded papers are guided into the pockets by guide 45 mounted onshaft 46 and by guide 47 mounted on shaft 48. They are prevented fromprematurely flying out of the pockets as the fan rotates by guide 45.

In accordance with the objectives of the invention to split thedelivery, two separate conveyor means 41 and 43 are provided forreceiving the papers from the pockets of the fans. The papers from thefirst level pockets 21 are received by conveyor 41 and the papers fromthe second level pockets 25 are received by conveyor 43. The resultingtwo streams of papers are thus separately delivered to separate stationsfor easy handling thus preventing overloading of a single conveyor.

In order to remove the papers from the pockets so that they can bedeposited onto the respective conveyors there is provided a firststripper 33 secured to a bar 35 for stripping the papers from the firstlevel pockets 21 and a second stripper 37 secured to bar 39 forstripping the papers from the second level pockets 25. Both strippersare located alongside each fan as shown in FIG. 2. Stripper 33 is sodisposed that it only interrupts the travel of the paper in pocket 21 asthe fan continues to rotate. The papers in this pocket are thusprevented from continuing to rotate with the fan thereby dropping out ofthe pocket and onto the conveyor 41. The next pocket which passesstripper 33 is a second level pocket 25. As seen in FIG. 1 stripper 33will not interrupt the travel of the paper in this pocket but it willcontinue to rotate with the fan past sripper 33, which also acts as aguide for the passing paper, until its leading edge engages stripper 37.The paper in the second level pocket 25 will thus be forced to fall ontoconveyor 43.

Since the pockets 21, 25 are alternately spaced, the papers carriedtherein will be alternately deposited in overlapping relation ontoconveyors 41, 43 respectively.

This invention has been discribed and illustrated with respect to anembodiment of splitting the delivery into two separate streams byproviding a fan having two levels of pockets with associated strippersfor each level. It should be understood, however, that the delivery canbe split into multi-streams by providing multilevel fans, each levelhaving its associated stripper. Accordingly it will be understood bythose skilled in the art after appreciating the principle of theinvention that various changes and modifications may be made with outdeparting from the spirit and scope of the invention, and it istherefore intended to cover all such changes and modifications in theappended claims; What is claimed is: 1. A delivery mechanism comprising:

a plurality of delivery fans'mounted on a shaft rotatably journaled inthe side frames of the press, said fans comprising a first set ofpockets on its periphery formed by fingers spirally extending from afirst radial level of said fan body and a second set of pockets on theperiphery of said fan formed by fingers spirally extending from a secondradial level of said fan body, 1 said pockets of said first and secondlevels being alterfor a rotary printing press nately spaced about theperiphery of said fan body for receiving folded signatures from a folderunit;

means for guiding said signatures in said pockets as 1 of pockets onlyand said second stripper means intercepting the signatures in saidsecond set of pockets;

whereby said signatures are alternately delivered be- 'tweensaidfirst-and second receiving means. e

2. The delivery mechanism according to claim 1 wherein said first andsecond receiving means comprises a pair of conveyors mounted below saidfans so that as said signatures engage said first and second -strippermeans they are deposited on said first and second conveyor inoverlapping relationship.

3. The delivery mechanism according to claim 2 wherein said first andsecond stripper means are mounted on separate support bars.

4. The delivery mechanism according to claim 3 wherein said first set ofpockets comprises a set of three pockets and said second set o fpocketscomprises a set of three pockets, each ppqketoionesetybeingslocated on the periphery ofthe' f aninbetween a pair ofpockets of the other Setr w y v 2 References Cited- "UNITED STATESPATENTS 3,43s,6 24 4/1969 Behringer 271-64 EDWARD A. SROKA, PrimaryExaminer v ,U.S. Cl. X.R. 27180

